Vowel for iPhone · coming soon
Find the name you’ll both love
Vowel learns your taste and your family’s roots, and takes you from thirty favorites to one name, with Aurora, an AI naming consultant, beside you in writing and in three spoken consultations.
Join the waitlistSee how it works
- 9,495 names, each with its own page
- Official birth records since 1880
- One purchase, no subscription, no ads
Why we built Vowel
Swipe apps hand you a pile
Thousands of names and a match or two. Then you are on your own for the hard part: choosing.
Consultants cost a lot
A naming consultant brings a method and a second voice. One public price list runs from $125 to $2,500.
Vowel brings the method
The way a good consultant works, from a first interview to the final decision, in three spoken sessions with Aurora and an app you can open any evening.
How it works
Four steps, at your own pace, from the first names to the one.
- 1
Tell it what you like
Your surname, how common the name may be, the languages it must work in and the names already on your mind. About 90 seconds.
- 2
Discover a few names a day
Love, Maybe, Not for us. Each answer sharpens the next card. As a couple, each of you swipes on your own iPhone and the names you both love meet.
- 3
Narrow it down
Sort your favorites two at a time, star up to five finalists and live with each one for a day.
- 4
Decide
Your finalists side by side, a decision session with Aurora, then the full name, sealed together. Aurora writes your Brief.
The heart of Vowel
Three consultations with Aurora
The way a naming consultant works: a first interview, a review of your Brief, then the decision. Aurora prepares each session, follows an agenda and leaves you written notes.
The first interview
One each · about 12 minutes
What the name has to do, who it might honor, what is ruled out, where your child will grow up.
The review of your Brief
Together · once you share 3 names
What Aurora heard from each of you, the names you share, what deserves a second look.
The decision
Together · 2 finalists, both preferences sealed
Aurora opens both preferences, weighs your days with each name, and you can seal the name there and then.
The consultations in detail →Included in The Consultant, US $34.99 once
Made for your family
A name that fits your family
Vowel doesn’t start from a ready-made list. It starts from you: your family, your roots, your style, your languages and your surname.
Your family and your roots
Add grandparents and parents, and where their family is from. Vowel brings forward names from those origins and suggests names that honor each of them: a pet form, the same name in another language, the same meaning.
Older siblings
Vowel leaves out their names and other spellings, and leans away from sharing their initial.
Your style
Read from the names you already love, from Vintage Revival to Rare Find. Every answer sharpens the next card.
Your languages, your surname
Only names spelled the same way in every language you pick, each tried with your surname, and as rare as you want.
Everything you tell Vowel shapes your names and your Brief, and you can change it any time.
Two iPhones, one name
Invite your partner and each of you chooses on your own iPhone, at your own pace. Only the names you both love meet in Together.
- Your deck mixes in names your partner loves, without saying whose.
- A name you can’t let go of? Champion it, with a note about why.
- Your no’s, maybes and private notes stay on your phone.
- The name is sealed when you both confirm. One purchase covers you both.
Claire
- Hazel
- Iris
- June
- Clementine
- Mabel
Thomas
- June
- Cora
- Hazel
- Mabel
- Wren
Together
- Hazel
- June
- Mabel
Aurora, between sessions
Between consultations, ask Aurora about your list in writing: compare two finalists, find a middle name, look for something like Hazel but rarer. Every suggestion comes with its reason, and she writes your Brief.
Every name, checked against real data
Each of the 9,495 names has a page: with your surname, the initials, other spellings, its curve through the years and the odds that another child in the class shares it.
The numbers come from official birth records: the SSA for the United States, INSEE for France, the ONS for England and Wales and the CSO for Ireland.
- 9,495names, each with its own page
- Since 1880US birth records (SSA)
- Since 1900French birth records (INSEE)
Origins and meanings were prepared with the help of an AI: treat them as a starting point.
Free to start, then one purchase
Free
$0
to start
- Everything open for 3 days, except the full Brief
- Then 20 new names a day
- Every name page and its data
- 5 written questions to Aurora a day
- 2 shared matches visible
The One
$9.99
once, US price
- Finalists and A day with each
- Every decision tool
- All your matches as a couple
- Your full Brief, written by Aurora
- One purchase for the household
With the consultations
The Consultant
$34.99
once, US price
- Everything in The One
- Three spoken consultations with Aurora
- A first interview for each parent
- The review of your Brief and the decision, together
- Written notes after every session
Already have The One? Add the consultations for US $24.99. No subscription and nothing renews.
Questions
Can I download Vowel now?
Not yet. Vowel is an iPhone app and has not launched. Join the waitlist and we will send one email when it opens.
Is Aurora a real person?
No. Aurora is an AI naming consultant. The app tells you so before you start, along with what is shared with the AI providers she runs on.
What are the consultations?
Three spoken sessions with Aurora: a first interview, a review of your Brief and the decision. She prepares an agenda for each and writes notes after. They come with The Consultant (US $34.99), or as an add-on to The One (US $24.99).
Do I need a partner to use Vowel?
No. Vowel works the same on your own. Choosing together is there when you want it.
Is there a subscription?
No. Vowel is free to download, and The One is a one-time purchase. Nothing renews.
Where do my data go?
No ads. Your data syncs to your iCloud account, and you can erase everything from the app. Aurora runs on AI models from third-party providers, which receive what you share with her so she can reply.
Which names and statistics are in the app?
9,495 names, with statistics from official sources: the SSA (United States, since 1880), INSEE (France, since 1900), the ONS (England and Wales) and the CSO (Ireland).
Go deeper
- Why VowelThe gap we saw, and what we built.
- ConsultationsThree spoken sessions with Aurora: interview, review, decision.
- AuroraThe AI consultant: what she does, and what she doesn’t.
- TogetherTwo iPhones, two tastes, one name sealed together.
- DecidingSort, finalists, a day with, try it on for life, coin flip.
- The BriefThe document Aurora writes about your search. Never free.
- CompareVowel against swipe apps and against hiring a consultant.